Last week, I responded to a post on the Creating Recess Substack. Nina, the author of Creating Recess and a creative entrepreneur working in the area of wellness, often asks the kind of gently probing questions that make you pause whatever you’re doing, furrow your brow a little and think how am I really feeling? The question she posed in her recent post was no different, asking readers to consider what they needed right now - maybe stillness, maybe surrender? The word ‘simplicity’ floated into view. As I sat with it, I realised that actually not only did I need simplicity, I have already started to embody it. Let me explain.
I’ve already written a fair bit about how the last few months have felt like coming up for air after a long period of depression and anxiety linked to my work-life. I’ve been ready and raring to go now that I’m feeling more like my Old Self. My Real Self, maybe. With this new-found energy has come a degree of overwhelm and indecision, leading to inevitable paralysis and procrastination, and then the threat of self-loathing and criticism for not making the most of things. A cycle which I’m sure is sadly familiar to lots of us. So I decided to try a little experiment with myself. What if, actually, I didn’t have to do everything, everywhere, all at once? What if, actually, I didn’t focus on Doing The Work™️ at all?
We live in a culture where productive-ness is close to godliness, where the key to a happy and fulfilled life, we’re told, is to fill up and optimise every minute of the day. And while it’s true we’re only on this earth for a finite period, I am highly suspicious of anyone that will tell you any working day that doesn’t start at 5am and end at midnight is wasted. More than that, I refuse to believe that adding extra steps to our already-overspilling schedules is the way forward.
Search for ‘morning routine’ or ‘daily routine’ on Instagram or TikTok and you will be inundated by quite literally millions of pieces of content about how (often white, often slim, often wealthy) so-called successful people spend their days. Full disclosure: I have consumed a lot of this content in my time online, sucked in by soothing aesthetics and dreamy voice-overs describing a life that I could have too, if only I woke up two hours earlier, had a membership to a boujie gym, took five different kinds of supplements, had a twelve step skincare routine and so on. These additions are sold to us as self-care essentials, the things that will really set you up to tackle those big plans you have for your life. The trouble is, all these add-ons just amplify the noise and the overwhelm. If your daily routine is hampering your creativity instead of enhancing it, then it’s simply got to go.
Back to my experiment. Inspired partly by a recent workshop I’d taken part in from author and career coach Selina Barker, I knew that an antidote to my overwhelm would be to strip things back and start from scratch. I considered what my life was looking like week-to-week and wrote down everything that I was doing (or attempting to do). With immoveable responsibilities like my day job in place, I decided to remove anything extra that was too complicated, took too long, felt like a punishment or that I was only doing because the internet/my inner critic was telling me to. I wanted to prioritise simplicity first, along with joy and feeling free (again, classic Sagittarius). I chose just three things to add back into my schedule. These things are, simply:
Get up by 7:30am every day
Go outside every day
Read some of my book before bed
Getting up by 7:30am gives me a good hour or so to myself in the mornings, to wake up gently if I need to or do some writing if I want to. Going outside for a Stupid Little Walk at lunchtime might be a pandemic habit but it makes a world of difference to my attitude, mood and motivation for the day. Finally, reading before I go to sleep is a childhood and teenage habit that I want to get back into. I’ve been in such a reading rut lately, with a not-unsubstantial number of started-but-not-finished books piled up by my bedside, but I love the calm and quiet of a few pages before bed.
These things are so simple, so easy to do. They provide the gentle nudge to my brain and body that it’s all good, I’ve got this. They make sure I don’t experience that spike of cortisol when I realise I’ve slept through my alarm. Any anxious thoughts or tight muscles are unwound when I let my legs take me outside and move me through my worry. If I read instead of scrolling, I’m less likely to go to sleep in an endless loop of comparing my life to strangers’ social media highlights. It’s so simple and I’m doing it.
That’s why reading Nina’s prompt about finding small moments of self-care made me pause last week. I realised that I was really making an effort to embrace that simplicity I had been craving. Self-care shouldn’t be complicated. The result is that I feel more awake (physically and mentally), more positive and more proactive. I’ve been spotting exciting opportunities everywhere that I have already started working towards. A friend even said to me recently how fired up and motivated I seemed. Surely one of the best compliments someone can give you?
If simplicity was the aim, then consistency is the game. That’s the part that’s going to take a little more work from me, but I can already feel the benefits of going back to basics with my routine. Most of all, this isn’t about punishment or failure or shame, because nothing creative or meaningful ever came from that. So if you see me on Instagram after 10pm, no you didn’t.
This section still doesn’t have a name, but maybe I need to take my own advice and keep it simple? So here’s this week’s unnamed recommended reads, watches and listens.
One of my favourite short-form podcasts is the FT’s Working It. Expect weekly dispatches from the world of work, as well as interviews with leading thinkers in the field of modern working life, all delivered in less than 30 minutes. This week looks at the importance (or not) of visibility in this hybrid working world.
As someone who quit their job with no plan B, I really enjoyed reading this Substack article from journalist Lucy Handley who did exactly the same 15 years ago. I read it via The Write Up by fellow Substacker Jess, who does a great regular round-up of good reads from across Substack.
In more local news, I am SO excited by what’s happening with Away Industries’ new site in Leith. Founders Matt and Katy have taken over an incredible 18th century building and are in the process of turning it into a new events, exhibition and co-working space. You can find out more about the project and their current crowdfunding campaign here.
This Substack is fully reader-supported, so every subscription, thumbs up or shout-out means the world! Next week I’ll be sharing more about what the paid subscription model for The Hot Desk looks like, as well as what you can expect if you’re a free subscriber. In the meantime, if you’ve enjoyed this week’s issue I’d love it if you could share The Hot Desk with someone you know who might also like it. Plus the comments are always open, so let’s chat.
See you next time!
Rebecca x
Love this! I've also been simplifying life the past year since I moved to the country and took active steps to slow down. I've been clearing clutter digitally, physically, and mentally for a while and feel a million times better for it. Still a way to go, but I love your experiment of writing everything down - I may try this too :)
🖤🖤🖤 I’ve been carrying around the word simplicity since we spoke .
I have made “hard into an art form “Working Hard” “ Play Hard” “Being hard on myself”
Now is a season / lifetime for keeping things simple. Which right now for me looks like
- Protecting white space in my diary to rest and just be
- Working with fewer distractions- I’ve found my self gravitating back to paper and pen planning and brainstorming so I don’t get distracted my too many tabs open both on my laptop & in my mind
- Building one new habit at a time